Instaloader

Instaloader is an unofficial Instagram archiving CLI that downloads media plus associated captions, comments, geotags, and metadata for profiles and other Instagram targets. It is built for exporting and updating local copies of Instagram content rather than changing account state.

• Archive public or followed private profiles, including posts, profile pictures, stories, highlights, tagged posts, reels, and IGTV media.
• Download hashtag, location, feed, saved-post, followee, and single-post targets, then refresh archives incrementally with --fast-update or --latest-stamps.
• Save captions, comments, geotags, and metadata JSON alongside downloaded media for later parsing, filtering, or re-download workflows.

• Recurring non-interactive runs are workable once a session file or imported browser cookies exist, so it can back scheduled archive jobs and scripted exports.
• Machine-readable output is file-based rather than --json stdout: it writes metadata and resume JSON files that tools like jq can process, while terminal output is mostly progress logs.
• Useful for agents that need to collect Instagram content or inspect downloaded metadata, but the scope is read-only and unattended runs are less predictable when login challenges or platform limits appear.

• Many useful targets require authentication, and login can involve browser checkpoints, cookie import, or already-saved session files.
• Instagram rate limits and platform changes can interrupt or break scraping, especially from cloud, VPN, or repeatedly restarted sessions.